Glacier Boats of Alaska was founded by owner Brian Dixon in 2004, incorporating as an Alaskan LLC in 2005. After moving to Idaho in early 2016, Glacier Boats of Alaska LLC was dissolved and then reincorporated as Black Pine Technologies LLC (d.b.a. Glacier Boats of Alaska) in Idaho.
Brian Dixon is a professional electrical and computer engineer with both master's and bachelor's degrees in engineering. Prior to the formation of Glacier Boats, with ideas towards starting a boat design and manufacturing company, Brian completed most of the Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology School of Yacht and Boat Design program - but dropped out when studies were switching to professional composite mold-based manufacturing and the design of sail boats - his focus at the time was on the design of welded aluminum high-speed planing hulls.
Under the watchful eye of Dave Gerr (Gerr Marine) and Westlawn, the Great Alaskan was originally designed (approx. 2004) for a part of the Westlawn curriculum, inspired by several of Stephen Pollard's designs (Specialty Marine), by Renn Tolman's series of boat designs (Tolman Skiffs), and by ideas of exploring and camping in southeast Alaska in a comfortable and seaworthy boat. Having decided not to pursue professional boat manufacturing as planned earlier, Brian decided to finish the detailed design of the Great Alaskan so that it could be built by amateurs - and with help from friend Renn Tolman, the boat's mechanical design was hammered out and the production of drawings and construction manuals completed.
Once the boat design and plans had been completed, Brian had the boat's mechanical attributes reviewed by an ex-Boeing Marine mechanical engineering friend, and the boat design 'design checked' by Naval Architect John Simpson in British Columbia, Canada ( J. Simpson Ltd). Once these due diligence efforts were completed, the design approved by all, it was then offered to the public in the form of plans for the home boat builder. The first boat was built by Adrian P in Gresham, Oregon - and was a great success, proving itself on the Columbia River, crossing the world-reknowned 4-mile wide and 1-mile long Columbia River bar into the Pacific ocean itself. In Adrian's words, " The bar scared me to death at times, but the Great Alaskan proved to be a very safe and seaworthy boat, getting us home safe, sound, and dry every time! ". Since then, the Great Alaskan has been built all over the world - Sweden, Italy, Germany, Australia, Alaska and across the United States. It's success and reputation continues to grow every year.
Brian Dixon has relocated from Knik, Alaska to Bonners Ferry, Idaho and as a consequence, Glacier Boats of Alaska LLC has been dissolved in favor of an Idaho-based LLC, Black Pine Technologies LLC and is doing business as (dba) the legally-assumed business name Glacier Boats of Alaska (no 'LLC' on the name).
In addition to the original 25-28 foot by 8'5" Great Alaskan, now dubbed the 'Standard Great Alaskan', the larger Kodiak model has been released (2019). The Kodiak was designed to be built from 27-30 feet long and is 9'4" wide - it's primary audience being the serious recreational or light-commercial (or charter) operators that need to operate with additional displacement (weight capacity). (NOTE: With this intent, the Kodiak was designed to carry additional weight in the stern - a work boat design)
The current plan for Glacier Boats of Alaska is to continue to design additional types of boats as time allows - announcements made on this website, FaceBook, and in our builder's forums.
Glacier Boats of Alaska also offers several other services such as 2D and 3D CAD services, conversion of drawings and designs to electronic format, and the production of CNC (Computer Numerical Control) drawings to enable the manufacturing of boat kits. If you have a boat design that you'd like to build - we can create loftings and rolled-out panels for your design for you!
Please contact us (thank you). Additionally, you may contact us directly via email at 'sales AT glacierboats.com' (replace the ' AT ' with '@' to create the email address), by phone at 208 999 0068, or via snail mail sent to Glacier Boats of Alaska, P.O. Box 575, Bonners Ferry, ID 83805.
